Leading your church means you have to be passionate. After all, church staff and members are going to follow your lead and if your passion doesn’t shine through, they might not feel as motivated.
The problem comes when you start to micromanage. The more you make this mistake, the less passionate you seem. In fact, it comes off as controlling. It isn’t an effective way to lead a church and could have some negative results.
Passion Motivates
Your passion is what helps motivate others to join with you. Whether it’s getting volunteers for an activity or making new members feel welcome, true passion reaches out and makes others feel like they’re welcome and wanted. When your passion turns into micromanaging, you might or disgruntled staff. This creates a trickle down effect and creates a negative atmosphere in the church.
Micromanaging Pushes People Away
Micromanagement is one of the worst leadership styles. There are plenty of reasons why church leaders might try to micromanage, such as the fear of something going wrong, but it doesn’t actually help at all. In fact, it hurts your staff’s morale. It could lead to church members leaving for another church. Despite your passion and best intentions, you’re making others feel like you don’t want or need them around.
Leaders Need To Empower And Trust
True leaders empower those around them. They also inspire trust. Leading your church with passion makes others feel empowered. They know you trust them and want to see them grow. When you micromanage, you demean instead of empower. Think of how you feel when someone stands over your shoulder and criticizes everything you do? It’s not a great feeling.
Leadership is often confused with micromanaging. After all, you are in charge and you have to tell others what to do. Just remember that once you’ve provided instructions, let your church staff and members follow through. You can supervise, but don’t smother them.
Embrace The Gifts Of Others
There is something about a passionate leader that sparks leadership and creativity in others. Maybe you’re having trouble coming up with new ways to reach the unchurched. By leading your church with passion, your church family is more likely to come to your aid with creative ideas. After all, everybody in the church has their own unique gifts and ideas.
When you micromanage them, you stifle their creativity and make them feel as if you’re not receptive to their ideas. For instance, if the church needed someone to help build a set for a play, a carpenter in your church might not volunteer for fear that you wouldn’t let them build things their way.
Passion Doesn’t Equal Full Control
God gave everyone free will. When leading your church, it’s important to remember that micromanaging is a way of trying to take full control of your staff and members. That’s not God’s way. Instead, lead with passion. The idea is to lead and not control the actions of others. Your passion is enough to motivate your church family. You don’t need to full control over everything. Each person has their own role to play and it’s up to you to guide them, but ultimately let them make their own choices.
Micromanaging Holds Your Church Back
Micromanaging usually has a way of preventing you from moving forward. You’re stuck with your own ideas and aren’t receptive to new ways of doing things. For instance, you might believe having a church website isn’t necessary. While it’s an effective way of reaching new members and engaging existing ones, you can’t see it because it’s not your idea or current way of leading your church.
By being a passionate leader, you’re happy to try new things, because your main objective is to help members grow in their faith and bring in new members. It’s not about having to be in control. It’s about doing what’s best for your church.
It’s okay to let go of the reigns and trust your staff and members. Be there to guide them, but still give them room to do their part in making the church a better place for them and everyone else.
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